MIDWEEK MESSAGE #231
Hello everyone and welcome to Midweek Message #231! WOW! Has this past week and a half been something else, or what? Two Sundays ago we had our first cancellation of a Sunday service in a long time. We made the right call. Our first priority is your safety and the live stream allows us the opportunity to facilitate that. The weather was just downright unsafe to be out in so I am glad for the live stream. Final total was at least 96+ people watched the live stream. (Preacher count says 200!😊) Guess something good came out of COVID (starting our live stream)! Thanks for understanding and being willing to “go with the flow.”
The students also had an extended Christmas vacation with the cancellation of school for three days. Then they had an eLearning Day on Friday. All in all, we were at the mercy of the weather. Here is a novel thought! Maybe, just maybe, we won’t have any more snow the rest of the winter!! I would not complain about that.
Pray for Jeanna Srinivasan as our educator of the week. Jeanna homeschools her two children, Aasha and Nathan. I asked Jeanna for some info about their family. Here is what she sent: She and Kartik have been married for 15 years and met while she was attending The University of Indianapolis and he was pursuing his Master’s degree (he is a Physical Therapist for IU Health). Aasha is 12 and in the 6th grade and Nathan is 7 11/12 (his answer) and in the 2nd grade. Aasha runs track for Indy Genesis, cross-country and basketball for Bloomington Bobcats, was just initiated as a cadet into the Civil Air Patrol, co-president in the Pathfinders 4-H Club, sings in the White River Music Studio homeschool choir and is in dance. Nathan loves working outdoors. Anything laborious like chopping wood, hauling and lifting things, he’s your man. Jeanna
teaches high school sciences for the Freedom Homeschool Co-op and is on the Eli Lilly Scholarship selection committee. In her spare time (?) she has dogs, chickens, ducks (this spring) and loves going camping.
While I am asking you to pray, I want to bring up the whole California wildfire situation. I said this past Sunday that natural disasters like fires have no favorites. They don’t care if you are rich or poor, white or black, Republican or Democrat, or any other mixture you can think of. I was just speaking with someone (I’m writing this on Sunday afternoon) who called to tell me about her friend who lives in California. He was 12 miles away, then 6, and now is waiting to see which way the wind blows. When this person told him we were praying for them, he was shocked. You know why? Remember when I said fire has no favorites? He is married to a man and his friends are all of the same persuasion. I saw church buildings leveled and collapsed (good thing the church is not the building). I’m going to ask you to keep praying for the victims of these fires and that the winds shift, rain falls or something miraculous happens to bring an end to this devastation. I was not here in early 2005, but I was here in the flood of ’08 and still remember the destruction our small community faced. Pray not only for the victims but also for those trying to minister God’s love to them. Perhaps this will draw people who are desperately looking for hope to the ONE who alone gives hope.
My Wednesday Night Conversations begins this Wednesday, the 15th. The topic of discussion will be 9 Common Lies Christians Believe and Why God’s Truth is Infinitely Better. It is based on a book by Shane Pruitt. The goal is to discuss and study what the Bible says about different topics:
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- God won’t give me more than I can handle
- God gained another angel
- God just wants me to be happy
- I could never forgive that person\
- Follow your heart
- God’s doesn’t really care
- Well, ________ will never change
- I don’t think God likes me
- Believe in yourself
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You may have a topic you would like to discuss. I will fit that in here or in the next WNC. There may an occasion where we might need to combine two due to scheduling conflicts. We already know that the Wednesday night pitch-in will omit one study. The plan is to go to March 12th and then pick it back up after Spring Break for about 6 weeks or so. We meet from 6-7:00. Bring a Bible, a notebook (if desired) and yourself. Oh yeah…no school = no WNC. I just mentioned the Wednesday night pitch-in. It is scheduled for the 29th of this month at 6 pm. We are trying something new and ask that you consider it along with us. As I said in last week’s MM, we used to have these when OVCF was just a baby. We are looking at different ways to foster a church family connection and this is one way we can make it happen. I look forward to seeing you there!!
I hope you have been enjoying the Everyday Gospel Devotional. I heard from several people this past Sunday who are really loving it. I’m so thankful for those who have taken the time to let me know how it has helped. I’m convinced God doesn’t really care how we study His Word or spend time with Him, just that we do, and this is a great way to get started. I told someone recently, when they talked about reading it and the Scripture, that she will grow by leaps and bounds by the year’s end. I believe many of us will. Some of you are probably wondering about our expansion. Two four-letter words sum it up: R.A.I.N. and S.N.O.W. That’s all we know at this point. 🙁 We will keep you informed when work begins again. 😀
Sunday’s message is Overcoming Life’s Challenges from Genesis 35-Exodus 3. The main emphasis will be on Joseph. I look forward to seeing you there. Love you all.
Pastor Bill
